F1, Gp Baku: Leclerc surrenders only to Perez: Ferrari second in the sprint race. Verstappen controversial with Russell

The race, also in the mini 100 km format, confirmed that the Red Bull it is even significantly stronger. But for the first time in this 2023 Charles Leclerc he proved he can fight. Starting from pole position, the Monegasque brought his own Ferrari in second place in the sprint race on Saturday in Azerbaijan, won by Sergio Perez. Leclerc had to surrender to the Mexican, but held back Max Verstappen, who had to settle for the third step of the podium. Another encouraging sign for Maranelloafter Leclerc’s double pole, who will also start in front of everyone on Sunday in the real race big prize. The feeling is that on the normal race distance he will be able to do very little to hold at shoulders the two Red Bulls, but at least on the Baku street circuit, Ferrari has once again become one podium car. Given the disastrous start to the season, it’s already a step forward.

Verstappen settled for third place also for racing with the ridge “piece” after a contact at the start with the Mercedes of George Russell. At the end of the race, the world champion went to argue directly with Russell: a face-to-face confrontation filmed by the cameras, with the Dutchman from Red Bull visibly irritated. Russell eventually finished fourth, ahead of the other Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard in the scrum of the sprint was able to get the better of Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

After the first lap the sprint race was momentarily “crystallized” from the virtual and then from safety car due to the accident Tsunoda, who lost his right rear tyre. On the sixth lap the race resumed and after two passes thanks to the Drs Perez overtook Leclerc, who had held the lead until then. Meanwhile Verstappen had already passed Russell. Closed between the two Red Bulls, the Monegasque from Ferrari was good at looking over his shoulder while trying to stay close to Perez. He succeeded admirably until the last 2-3 laps, when the Mexican took off. However, Verstappen never had a real chance to try to overtake.